Bread boarding teminal

ABSTRACT

A bread-boarding terminal comprising a metallic jack adapted to be secured to the regular terminal of an electrical component and having a bore therein for receiving a plug, and an insulating member permanently secured to the metallic jack for shielding the exposed current carrying parts thus rendering the electrical component less hazardous and for making it impossible to remove the insulating member from the jack without destroying the terminal. An identifying number may be placed on the insulating member for identifying the terminal of the electrical component.

United States Patent 11 1 Wildi 1 1 Sept. 4, 1973 BREAD-BOARDING TERMINAL [75] Inventor: Theodore Wildi, Quebec City,

Quebec, Canada [73] Assignee: Lab-Volt (Quebec) Limited, Quebec,

Province of Quebec, Canada 22 Filed: Dec. 3, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 204,543

[52] US. Cl. 339/22] R, 339/113 R, 339/213 R [51] Int. Cl H01r 9/08 [58] Field of Search 339/221, 217 R, 217 PS,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,381,257 4/1968 Nelson 339/10 3,675,189 7/1972 Smith 339/221 R 3,665,376 5/1972 Paris et al. 339/198 E 3,013,243 12/1961 Rice 339/150 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,171,121 11/1960 Great Britain ..339/113R 372,530 3/1923 Germany 339/217 PS Primary Examiner-Marvin A. Champion Assistant Examiner-Robert A. I-Iafer AttarneyRaymond A. Robic [57] ABSTRACT A bread-boarding terminal comprising a metallic jack adapted to be secured to the regular terminal of an electrical component and having a bore therein for receiving a plug, and an insulating member permanently secured to the metallic jack for shielding the exposed current carrying parts thus rendering the electrical component less hazardous and for making it impossible to remove the insulating member from the jack without destroying the terminal. An identifying number may be placed on the insulating member for identifying the terminal of the electrical component.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures BREAD-BOARDING TERMINAL This invention relates to a bread-boarding terminal adapted to be secured to the regular terminals of electrical components for facilitating interconnections between such electrical components.

Experiments in electricity, particularly in the breadboarding-stage, usually consist of wiring components together. Components such as relays, contactors and switches often have screw terminals, while other components such as resistors, capacitors etc., may have lug terminals to which the wires may be secured.

With few interconnecting wires, these screw or lug terminals are satisfactory, but in complex bread-board set-ups, such as are encountered in control circuits, the screw and lug method of securing the wires is cumbersome, time consuming and even dangerous. The threads strip, the screws get lost, and the wire ends get pinched and break off. A typical control circuit may require as many as lOO interconnecting wires (200 connections), and for this reason, the lug and screw method of wiring is not satisfactory.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to save hook-up time, and to provide uniform connection means of the electrical components using conventional plugs by modifying the existing component terminals to provide a new standard and quick-to-connect terminal.

The bread-boarding terminal, in accordance with the invention, comprisea a metallic jack adapted to be secured to the regular terminal of an electrical component and having a bore therein for receiving a plug, and an insulating member permanently secured to the metallic jack for shielding the exposed current carrying parts thus rendering the electrical component less hazardous and for making it impossible to remove the insulating member from the jack without destroying the terminal. The insulating member is formed with a surface adapted to butt against the electrical component to prevent the jack from swivelling when connected to the regular terminal of the electrical component. Also, the insulating n. nber is formed completely to cover the connecting .ieans adapted to connect the jack to the regular terminal of the electrical component whereby to prevent the connection from being tampered with.

This new bread-boading terminal eliminates the above-mentioned wiring problem because:

1. it is secured to the existing component terminal;

2. it accommodates standard banana plugs such as are used in the electrical industry;

3. it is insulated, so as to be even less hazardous than the original component terminal;

4. it can be provided with an identifying number or letter, to simplify the electrical wiring from a wiring diagram; and

5. it fits all standard relay terminals, switch terminals, resistor terminals etc. I

The invention will now be disclosed with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof and to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exploded view of a breadboarding terminal in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a section view through the breadboarding terminal of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of the insulating member forming part of the bread-boarding terminal taken along line 33 of FIG. 1.

also be used. A metallic jack 16 has a bore therein for accommodating commercial plugs such as plug 18. An insulating member 20 having a hole 22 therein is press fit over the metallic jack 16 so as to be permanently secured thereto. It is to be understood, however, that other means of permanently securing the insulating member 20 to the jack 16 could be used. The insulating member 20 shields the exposed current carrying parts, thus rendering the component terminal less hazardous.

The permanent attachment of the insulating member 20 to the metallic jack 16 makes it impossible to remove the insulating member from the jack without destroying the terminal. In addition it also offers the following advantages:

a. The insulating member butts against the component, preventing the metallic jack from swiveling around the screw 14.

b. The insulating member completely covers the screw 14 which secures the jack to component terminal 12, making it impossible for the jack to come loose.

It will be noted that the bored portion of jack 16 is bent at a predetermined angle from the flat portion thereof which is secured to the existing component terminal so as to make it more universal in its application.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the insulating member may also bear an identifying number 24 (numeral 4) for identifying the terminal of the electrical componentv and thus facilitating the interconnections to be made between the various components when following a wiring diagram.

Although the invention has been disclosed with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof it is to be understood that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A bread-boarding terminal comprising a metallic jack adapted to be secured to the regular terminal of an electrical component and having a bore therein for receiving a plug, and an insulating member permanently secured to said metallic jack for shielding the exposed current carrying parts thus rendering said electrical component less hazardous, and for making it impossible to remove the insulating member from the jack without destroying the terminal, the metallic jack being secured to the terminal of the electrical component by means of a screw, the insulating member butting against the electrical component for preventing the metallic jack from swivelling around the screw and the insulating member completely covering the head of the screw which secures the jack to the electrical component, thus preventing the jack from coming loose.

2. A bread-boarding terminal as defined in claim 1 wherein said insulating member has an identifying number for identifying the terminal of the electrical component on a surface thereof located on the inlet end of the plug-receiving bore.

3. A bread-boarding terminal for securing onto the regular terminal of an electrical component and intended removably to receive an electrical plug whereby face adapted to butt against said electrical component to prevent said jack from swivelling around said connection to said regular terminal of said electrical component, and 5 d. wherein said insulating means further include a portion covering said removable means for preventing said removable connecting means for being tampered with. 4. A bread-boarding terminal as defined in claim 2, wherein said insulating member is press fitted over said metallic jack.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION patent 3,757,282 Dated September 4, 1973 Inventor(s) Thodore WILDI It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Col. 4, line 5, "means" should read: member Signed and sealed this 30th day of July 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

McCOY M. GIBSON, JR. (3. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents FORM PO-1050 (10-69) USCOMMDC wand,

9 U.S, GOVERNMENT PR NTING OFFICE: I959 O366-334 

1. A bread-boarding terminal comprising a metallic jack adapted to be secured to the regular terminal of an electrical component and having a bore therein for receiving a plug, and an insulating member permanently secured to said metallic jack for shielding the exposed current carrying parts thus rendering said electrical component less hazardous, and for making it impossible to remove the insulating member from the jack without destroying the terminal, the metallic jack being secured to the terminal of the electrical component by means of a screw, the insulating member butting against the electrical component for preventing the metallic jack from swivelling around the screw and the insulating member completely covering the head of the screw which secures the jack to the electrical component, thus preventing the jack from coming loose.
 2. A bread-boarding terminal as defined in claim 1 wherein said insulating member has an identifying number for identifying the terminal of the electrical component on a surface thereof located on the inlet end of the plug-receiving bore.
 3. A bread-boarding terminal for securing onto the regular terminal of an electrical component and intended removably to receive an electrical plug whereby electrically to join said plug and said component, said bread-boarding terminal comprising: a. a metallic jack having removable means at one end for rigidly connecting it to said regular terminal and Being formed with a bore therein for removably receiving asid plug to establish an electrical junction therebetween; b. an insulating member permanently secured to said metallic jack for shielding the exposed current carrying parts thereof whereby to render said electrical junction less hazardous; c. said insulating member being formed with a surface adapted to butt against said electrical component to prevent said jack from swivelling around said connection to said regular terminal of said electrical component, and d. wherein said insulating means further include a portion covering said removable means for preventing said removable connecting means for being tampered with.
 4. A bread-boarding terminal as defined in claim 2, wherein said insulating member is press fitted over said metallic jack. 